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CNET Editors' Rating

The Bottom LineAimed at people who like texting but are on a budget, the LG KS360 for the most part hits its target. Our only real disappointment is its lacks of features. The keypad could be a little bit more defined, but it's not bad either and if you're a keen texter, this could be the perfect phone for you

6.5 Overall

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Mid-range slider phones tend to be pretty dull, but the LG KS360 offers something different. Pop it open and instead of a standard keypad you get a full Qwerty one -- designed with messaging in mind. We limbered up our thumbs, ready to put the KS360 through some serious texting.

The KS360 will be available to buy around the beginning of September on Orange and a little later on O2. It will come free on certain contracts and will be available on pay as you go, but pricing has yet to be announced.

DesignWhen it's closed, the KS360 looks like a fairly
average slider phone. At the top there's a relatively large screen above a set of navigation keys. The nav keys are a little
too small for our liking, but with some manoeuvring you can get to
where you need to go. The OK key, in particular, is very fiddly to
press and could have done with being much bigger.

The LG KS360 features a slide-out Qwerty keypad

Fortunately the slide-out keypad is slightly better spaced and if you're a keen texter, it's not bad. We do feel that the keys could have been defined better with a raised edge, for example. Texting was easy enough, but you might find every now and then you hit the wrong key because of how flat they are.

FeaturesThe LG KS360 keeps things very simple in the features department. There's no 3G or Wi-Fi and the camera only packs a 2-megapixel sensor, with no flash. But then again this phone isn't being pitched as a super-phone -- it's all about messaging, so you get shortcut keys to SMS and an instant-messaging client (although this may be network-dependant).

The KS360's screen is large enough to comfortably read text messages

Our LG KS360 was on Orange and came with MSN Messenger, meaning you can use it to chat instantly with all your friends. There's also an email client, so you can set up your Gmail account or any other POP3 or IMAP account. You'll need to find out all your email settings, which should be available online.